Jonny Evans | 2011/12 Performances

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Walrus said:
I think Evans and vidic will be first choice. Ferdinand is a great player, but age and fitness mean for me he shouldnt be guaranteed first choice anymore - a luxury player if ever there was one.
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A luxury player? Rio? Nah, proved himself again in the last 8 games despite many thinking he was finished. If you are looking for luxury players in our squad you need look no further than Giggs imo.
 
Walrus said:
I think Evans and vidic will be first choice. Ferdinand is a great player, but age and fitness mean for me he shouldnt be guaranteed first choice anymore - a luxury player if ever there was one.
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Nah, sorry, that's not right. Rio is still absolutely class. If we had a fully fit squad (never going to happen), and the CL final tomorrow, it would be Ferdinand and Vidic at centre back.
 
Evans has been our best defender this season and if there is CL final tommorow, then Evans should play on merit.
 
KM said:
Evans has been our best defender this season and if there is CL final tommorow, then Evans should play on merit.
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You see, this is what I don't get. Yes, he's been brilliant this season, but he hasn't really been any better than Rio. The only reason people are praising him more is because this has been the best form of his career and he has really stepped up his game.
 
I dunno I would say defensively he and rio have been equally good but the attacking play Evans has added to his game has been quality. Very good use of possession, smart runs and really he's been unlucky not to get a few more goals. Shame he doesn't have a agger/carvalho shot on him
 
Pretty ridiculous that he's not up for young player of the year, he was 23 when the season started so he's eligible, no?

I don't watch much of City, but I've heard about a lot of bad save attempts by Hart this season.
 
From the Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/apr/21/jonny-evans-best-defender-alex-ferguson

After a horror show at West Ham last season, which led to Jonny Evans being dropped for six weeks, Sir Alex Ferguson now rates the 24-year-old as "arguably the best defender in the country". In this reversal of fortune, students of Manchester United may recognise classic Fergusonian man-management of a younger player. With peers such as Vincent Kompany, Joleon Lescott, Thomas Vermaelen, John Terry, Kyle Walker and Benoît Assou-Ekotto, it is some claim that Evans could be the leader of this pack.

Playing alongside the resurgent Rio Ferdinand in the United defence this campaign, the Northern Irishman may not even be the best defender in his own team, who host Everton on Sunday. But the Evans performance graph has risen unrecognisably since his nightmare at Upton Park two Novembers ago. On a rain-lashed night in east London Evans was culpable for two of the goals as United were knocked out of the Carling Cup 4-0 by Avram Grant's team, who were bottom of the league.

Ferguson, furious, had taken Evans off after 72 minutes and he next trusted him in a red shirt for the 1-0 FA Cup third-round win over Liverpool the following January. A sending-off followed against Bolton in mid-March as Evans finished his difficult season with only 13 league appearances, the fewest of his four-year professional career.

Now, though, following the ruptured cruciate ligament that finished Nemanja Vidic's season in December, Evans is up to 27 outings (26 starts) – already his highest return by nine – and Ferguson says of him: "His form has been absolutely consistent over the past few months since he became a regular. Jonny Evans has always had fantastic ability, even as a kid. He was very talented as a boy when he came over here from Ireland at 12 years of age. We were never quite sure if he was going to be a midfield player or a centre-back – he was exceptionally talented but gangly with physical issues growing up. We had him out on loan with Antwerp and Sunderland and now we are seeing the value of nurturing him. With his height and pace and ability on the ball, he is really outstanding."

Evans's ease in playing further up the park matches that of Ferdinand – also a midfielder when he started his career, at West Ham – and his ball-playing skills are reflected in a 90% pass completion rate in the league. Evans has also made nine more clearances than Ferdinand's 200 and won 76% of his tackles and Ferguson adds: "I think his form is down to playing regularly and Rio has helped him too. It has been a good combination for us. It's been difficult for [Chris] Smalling and [Phil] Jones at the moment because of their form [Evans's and Ferdinand's], because they are due to be our centre-backs in the future.

"I don't know what the fans thought but there were never any doubts in my mind about Evans. He had a period of a few injuries but he has toughened up now, he's done a lot of work in the gymnasium and he's 24 years of age. He's been a top player for us this year. There is no doubt he has been helped playing alongside the experience of Rio and he is now arguably the best defender in the country.

"I must admit my heart sank a little when I learned just how long Nemanja Vidic was going to be out. He and Rio Ferdinand had become the cornerstone of our defence but Rio responded brilliantly, despite his back problem, and has now struck up a fine partnership with Evans. Together they have been rock solid to give us great consistency in defence."

Despite the stellar form of Wayne Rooney – 31 goals so far – Paul Scholes and Ferdinand, Evans is in the running to be United's player of the season, Ferguson believes. "Ferdinand's had a great season, one of his best for us, but there are quite a few others too. [Michael] Carrick, Scholes, [David] De Gea's form has been great in recent games and he [Evans] has been one of our players of the season."

Following his return to the team for the Liverpool game 15 months ago, Evans said: "Don't remind me about West Ham. It has been difficult since then in terms of dealing with the mental side of things. I have always had confidence in my own ability and great support from my family and the manager. I just had to step back and think about the things I needed to do to get back to getting the basic stuff right."

Mission accomplished and more. Now he speaks with the clout of an established figure when assessing United's charge at a 20th league title that continues on Sunday afternoon when Everton visit Old Trafford. "They have hit a great patch of form in the second half of the season," he says. "They are above their local rivals Liverpool, so I am sure they will want to finish above them in the league after losing to them in the FA Cup semi-final. It is going to be another tough game. It is a game where we will have to be patient because they do defend quite well."

And heading United's own rearguard will be Evans.
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Improved though Evans has been it is fantasy to think that we would have shipped so many goals as we did today with a Vidic and Rio partnership.
 
He's come on a lot this season but today's performance reminded me of his mare against Liverpool. In a couple of big games he's come up well short
 
The usual idiots have come out of their holes now that he's had one bad performance.
 
KM said:
The usual idiots have come out of their holes now that he's had one bad performance.
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He's been pathetic in two of our last three games. Needs to be dropped for the City game or he'll quite possibly cost us it.

and he's STILL doing that fecking thing about 20 times a game where goes for balls that aren't his to win and then leaves himself open.
 
noodlehair said:
He's been pathetic in two of our last three games. Needs to be dropped for the City game or he'll quite possibly cost us it.

and he's STILL doing that fecking thing about 20 times a game where goes for balls that aren't his to win and then leaves himself open.
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Yeah he has but he'll still get picked for City.
 
noodlehair said:
He's been pathetic in two of our last three games. Needs to be dropped for the City game or he'll quite possibly cost us it.

and he's STILL doing that fecking thing about 20 times a game where goes for balls that aren't his to win and then leaves himself open.
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Who'll you play instead of him?

Smalling is lacking match fitness, and Jones at center back is terrible.
 
We always struggle against Fellaini, not only Evans... he was great this season, one of our best performers.
 
noodlehair said:
He's been pathetic in two of our last three games. Needs to be dropped for the City game or he'll quite possibly cost us it.

and he's STILL doing that fecking thing about 20 times a game where goes for balls that aren't his to win and then leaves himself open.
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This is madness.
 
KM said:
Who'll you play instead of him?

Smalling is lacking match fitness, and Jones at center back is terrible.
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This. Evans hasn't had a great game but he shouldn't be dropped because of it. Especially as, like you say he is preferable to the alternatives at the moment. Hopefully he won't let his performance get to him and will try and move on from it.
 
I hope his recent performances make people realise that they've maybe been overrating him a bit. He's a very good defender who has had a good season, however he's had some awful games at the worst times possible.
 
Evans was at fault for City's 3rd, going to head a ball that he was never going to win. It was Ferdinand's man.

Everton's 4th was Rio's fault, standing in no man's land. Staring at the ball.

But will you drama queens shut the feck up. They've been fantastic all season, and they will remain our starting CBs until the end of the season.

Everton were fantastic.
 
Scrumpet said:
First poor performance in months and months, and the knives are out.

He was poor, he'll get over it.
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Play poorly in big matches and thats what will happen.

He's performed very well but when it comes to a big match we dont really know what we're going to get from him. He's had other big matches where he's done well, but in some of them he's been awful. You cant have everything from your backup CB, we just need to remember thats what he is. Roll on the day Vidic is back
 
Tbh I don't really think he played that bad at all. He got put in to some tough situations with people passing him in the ball in awkward situations. The bigger problem was Evra at fall back constantly coming inside too much and leaving way too much room on the left and the last goal, Rafael completely left his man.
 
he has had a bad performance but this is the real test now vs Manchester City next week, then swansea and finally sunderland. If he can get his head together for these 3 seasons and forget about today then he will be great but now is the time for him to step up!
 
I don't want to be right about Evans not being good enough, really I don't.

The difference will be whether he can pick himself up and shake it off this season.

Last season he was yanked once, lost his confidence, and was finally yanked for a longer period by SAF.

This season we can't afford for him to have a bad spell at the money end of the season.

The derby match next week will be a defining one for Evans.
 
KM said:
Who'll you play instead of him?

Smalling is lacking match fitness, and Jones at center back is terrible.
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Smalling has to play. Jones is out of form while Evans has been a liability against Wigan and today...and the games in between he's literally had no defending to do.

You just can't leave someone in the team when they're as out of sorts as he's looked whenever he's had defending to do of late. He's absolutely gone to fecking pieces.

It'd be like sticking with the same keeper after he fumbles in an own goal and then lets a back pass roll under his foot.
 
Brosstan said:
Rafael in particular. For both their last two goals.
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Rafael had nothing to do with the 4th goal. Evans came out with Fellaini to hold him up and then he allowed a player with a large turning circle to turn and cross from inside the area. As a CB he should never be allowing that all he needed to do was block any potential cross and force him to move the ball away from goal. It was way too easy and yes Rio might have made a last ditch saving tackle, but he shouldnt have needed to.
 
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